The FX re-mastering is great, as is typically the case so far. I must say I like the way they often depict the ship, frequently more in shadow and darkness than in full light, but still with clear details in the close-ups and new angles. The planets are great, and the often-used painted backdrops are redone and much better. The story is an interesting idea, though somewhat hard to swallow. Obviously, the people on Eminiar VII are just more stubborn and war-like than earth humans. Still, I find it hard to believe they can wipe out half a million so callously and frequently that they could keep that war going for 500 years - or a shortfall of 400 would really be a problem. I expect the government might easily inform 400 citizens they "died" in the last computer attack, even when they weren't really "killed," and had to report to make up for the shortfall, rather than risk going to real war. You think governments are above lying to their people? And what's 400 more when compared with 500,000? And taking out two disintegration stations would hardly make a dent in that number, either. But we'll let this stuff slide for the sake of the interesting idea.
So . . .
After receiving a code 7-10 (stay away at all costs) from Eminiar VII, Ambassador Robert Fox pulls rank and blatantly disregards what I assume to be a planet's sovereign right to privacy or anything else. He's quite a tool, apparently, and Kirk (and later, Scotty) have to contend with such incredible stupidity that one wonders how the federation is as successful as it is if they give such morons that kind of authority. Maybe there are political and/or social connections that elevate such a man past his abilities even in that more Utopian society. "They faked a message from the captain and opened fire on the Enterprise," Scotty told him. "Oh, it's obviously a mistake, so drop our shields," Fox ordered. "Go Eff yourself, Fox," Scotty explained.
One may wonder how Fox and company beamed down later since Scotty refused to lower the shields. I can only assume they orbited out of range of the sonic weapons, which may have partially relied on the planet's atmosphere since it was "sonic." No sound in space. Since they can, Starships might normally go far lower in the atmosphere than you might expect for a spaceship, relying on their power to hang there or return to space (and it might explain why their orbits decay so quickly when they lose power, too, but I digress). Regardless, the transporter, apparently, has a greater range than Eminiar VII's sonic weapons.
Well, maybe he did some great things before or later, since somebody seems to have named a ship after him, the SS Robert Fox in
Star Trek: Generations, though it was destroyed in the energy ribbon along with its passengers. Its sister ship was also destroyed, but the Enterprise B first saved the passengers.
"
The Federation of Planets" is given its full name for the first time in this episode.
This episode's yeoman, Yeoman Tamura, was played by Miko Mayama, and her character was of Japanese decent. Her name in the credits was Tamula, though Tamura is a more typical Japanese family name and the one displayed in the closed captions on my copy. Apparently she was the only female given a phaser for guard duty, but since she wore security red and not science blue, that makes sense to me. We should, then, be more impressed she also knows how to use a tricorder than the fact she knows how to use a phaser, but the Feds are apparently big on multi-talented individuals and multitasking. That is, they have crewmen moving from department to department, filling in whenever and where ever, since, at any moment, the entire ship's company may depend on the action of a single crewman, so it's best to be familiar with most everything and particularly good at a few things. Anyway, this partially explains why some regular characters are occasionally seen in different colored uniforms or at different stations doing different things.
Barbara Babcock appears here as Mea 3, and will later return as Philana in
Plato's Stepchildren.
But she also does voice work for the series as Trelane's mother (
The Squire Of Gothos), the Beta 5 computer and Isis the cat (
Assignment: Earth), Loskene (a Tholian) (
The Tholian Web), and the voice of Zetar (
The Lights Of Zetar), so she stays busy.
Sean David Kenney appears here as Lt. DePaul, but he's more famous for his mute role of the crippled Christopher Pike.
Interesting Bits:
Here we learn about General Order 24 (destroy all life on the planet's surface). Harsh, and probably not all that easy for a starship to do (unless they just mean all humanoid life). I'm pretty impressed they have such an order, but they do. The only other captain to ever give such an order was Captain Garth, though that one, too, was never carried out. Though he gave no such indication, I always felt general order 24 was actually a bluff (on the Federation's, and/or) on Kirk's and Scotty's part. It would be their code for an order to threaten to destroy a civilization (but not really do it), and so it was never really meant to be carried out. I mean, it's hard to believe Kirk would order the death of millions, perhaps billions, to save 400+ crewmen (actually, not even that, but just the landing party since the Enterprise could always just take off without them, eh). He might bluff total destruction, yes, but never really do it. I also doubt Scotty would carry out such an order. Threaten too, of course, as "ordered," but not do it. And, it is a fact, the only crew ever given such an order refused to do it and arrested their captain for giving that order and insisting they carry it out. Poor Garth. The hypothesis is supported by the fact Scotty calls them up and tells them he's going to wipe them out. Why do that? Just kill them, if that's what you're intent is. But if it's a bluff, then telling them about it is absolutely necessary. Anyway, other sources state that later something called the Eminiar Amendment outlawed and invalidated general order 24, so it would no longer be a legal option for any reason. If it was just a bluff, they apparently don't even want the reputation of such heavy-handed threatening tactics.
However, though Kirk tells Scott to carry out the order if not heard from again in 10 minutes, that might be for the benefit of Anan. But finally, after "winning," Kirk cancels the order, and that is the strongest suggesting it is not a bluff. Too bad, too, since the order seems to be highly immoral and unethical, IMO. Kill millions? Granted, it puts full pressure on the locals to submit, but to carry it out? It's almost unthinkable.
In real life, as a lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Artillery, James Montgomery Doohan was threatened with court martial for saying "No sir, I will not," to a visiting colonel when he realized a training exercise order he was given would entail blowing the heads off some of his own men. Fortunately, his immediate superiors backed him up and, like his fictional character, he was eventually promoted to captain. Good for you, Jim. Did you know Jimmy Doohan was a real life captain?
It was stated in later sources that peace talks broke down after Kirk and company left and this resulted in the total destruction of Vendikar and left a full third of Eminiar VII a radioactive wasteland. Considering my belief those jokers are even more stubborn and war-like than humans, this wouldn't surprise me (but I doubt any of that is canon).
The story may also be slightly flawed inasmuch as I think Kirk's landing party and the ship could have gotten away once communications were reestablished. Besides, it's probably not that hard to find members of a different species (humans) among the Eminiar people. They could beam them right up and out of there since nothing was really threatening the ship with enough power to stop them at full transporter range. So Kirk didn't have to force that war to "save his ship" or his landing party anymore, though he may have had to force it to have a chance at totally stopping it, and only that way maybe gain the port the Federation wanted. That just seems less noble or urgent or necessary to make risking two whole populations worth it. But Kirk's gambit works and it's hard to argue with success.
We never get a close look at the culture of Eminiar VII, and we must wonder about the names of the characters - Mea 3, Anan 7. My personal speculation is this society rapidly produces clones to keep their population up (considering how quickly they kill them off) and so they employ numbers in many of their names.
I gave the episode a 6 before, but would be willing to upgrade it to 6.5 or 7 for the re-mastered efforts.
)
Even when it's badly written that way, and I assume it was, you'd figure somebody would catch that – even Shatner. 1x1x1x1 = 1. Obviously, he meant 1 x 10^4 or 10,000 times louder.
